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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29570043">The Other Faces</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxKowarth/pseuds/MaxKowarth'>MaxKowarth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005), Silent Witness (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crime Scenes, Forensics, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Science Fiction, a pun that got out of hand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:41:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>751</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29570043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxKowarth/pseuds/MaxKowarth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A death in a care home causes a conflict of jurisdiction.</p><p>or</p><p>How many roles fit this jigsaw</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kate Lethbridge-Stewart/Petronella Osgood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Other Faces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The corridor was lit by the wan February light from a barred window at the far end.<br/>
A hand written card in the holder read simply ‘Eleanor’. It looked more like a prison than a care home.</p><p>‘The staff locked the door as soon as she was discovered’ the uncomfortable looking official was explaining as she searched a huge loop of keys for the one she needed. ‘I was just begging to think I was inured to death.’</p><p>‘Been at this a while then?’ D.I. Jill Raymond pushed her jacket away from her trouser pockets and sunk her long fingers into their calming folds. She wasn’t going to get annoyed with the woman’s grumbling. Or with the smell that seemed much stronger at this end of the corridor<br/>
‘Long enough to draft my resignation every Thursday, for decades.’ Dr Rosa Hamilton gave the Inspector a smile almost as thin as the sunlight. Then she unlocked the door. </p><p>‘Whatever you think you’re prepared for, you’re wrong.’ She warned.<br/>
Raymond nodded once and stepped through the door, the faithful DC Quinn at her back. One look at the bed was enough to make Raymond cover her already masked mouth with her hand.<br/>
‘Jesus…’ Quinn breathed out.<br/>
‘Martin.’ Raymond snapped in warning. She pivoted on her heel and stepped back into the corridor.</p><p>Dr Hamilton was lent against the opposite wall; her hands shook as she went through the motions of lighting an imaginary cigarette that she had clearly struggled to give up. Raymond offered her a stick of her gum which she took gratefully.<br/>
‘That’s no accident.’ Rosa sniped around the gum. ‘The only way that would be an accident would involve a helicopter.’<br/>
‘You did the right thing to call us.’ Raymond dodged the question. ‘Any sign of the SOCOs?’<br/>
Rosa pointed down the hall where 2 lab coated technicians were hauling a wheeled case into view; a tall, blonde and horribly familiar woman strode ahead of them.<br/>
She proffered her I.D to those assembled at the victim’s door. ‘Kate Stewart. UNIT. We’re taking over the investigation.’</p><p>‘Oh, on whose authority?’ bristled the inspector at the imperious interloper. One of the technicians dropped the bag they were lifting. The other stared.<br/>
‘Three of them?’ Osgood boggled, already feeling an involuntary blush.<br/>
‘Which ones the Zygon?’ asked McGillop<br/>
‘The victim’s the Zygon on record.’ Kate pointed them toward Eleanor’s room.</p><p>-</p><p>DC Martin Quinn was still stood looking down at the bed. He made notes into the voice recorder on his phone in a desperate attempt to force sense back into the world.<br/>
‘Victim appears to be 5 foot 6, a redhead with hazel eyes. The left hand side of body is swollen and puffy with a deep orange tinge. Strongly suggest forensics investigate acids or maybe....’ he paused the recording baffled. </p><p>The sight held him so completely that he almost didn’t notice the two scientists reach his side. His concentration was broken by the sound of the male trying not to retch.<br/>
The female put down the device that looked like a camera and sighed. ‘Positive Identification, Kate.’ She called to the door.<br/>
‘Who’s Kate?’ DC Quinn asked. ‘Sorry, who are you?’ The scientist pushed her glasses back up her nose, swapped the camera between hands and proffered the empty one.<br/>
‘Osgood. You must be Detective Constable Quinn. We’ve heard good things.’<br/>
‘You aren’t from the Lyell’<br/>
‘No, Ms Alexander is having to sit this one out. We’re a higher authority.’</p><p>‘If you’ve finished with the small talk I could use a hand’ McGillop complained from the floor where he had been laying out a body bag.<br/>
Quinn stepped across it to take a grip on the victim’s legs.<br/>
McGillop rolled his eyes and found purchase on her shoulders as they lifted her from the blood soaked bed. </p><p>The body twitched all along its bloated left hand side and thousands of tiny suckers blossomed forth like freckles. The skull distorted as it tried to hold two vastly different sets of features. The nose and chin were the only ones to remain even faintly the same.<br/>
Fortunately the torso was too mangled for the transformation to make much difference.<br/>
To his surprise Quinn didn’t drop the body.</p><p>‘What the hell are we looking at?’ snapped Raymond from the doorway.<br/>
‘A very long debrief.’ Sighed Kate Stewart. ‘Can I leave you with this Osgood?’<br/>
‘Yes ma’am. Could we keep DC Quinn?’<br/>
‘You’ll have to feed him if you bring him home.’ Kate teased.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was a thought experiment, barely an idea longer than a tweet. </p><p>Wasn't expecting 750 odd words. If you'd like to see more give me a nudge in the comments</p></blockquote></div></div>
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